Katherine (Joyce) Patton 1845-1909

PATTON, JOYCE, FERGUSON, MOBRAY

Posted By: Joe Conroy (email)
Date: 7/4/2010 at 14:04:27

The Democrat
Emmetsburg, Iowa
27 Oct 1909
Page 4

Death of Mrs. M. Patton.

Expired at Her Home in This City Early Sunday Morning.

Mrs. Michael Patton, mention of whose illness has been made in these columns on several occasions, passed away at her home in this city Sunday morning about 2 o'clock. Saturday she had been feeling as well as usual, though her condition had for some time been considered serious. Still, her taking off was comparatively unexpected.

The funeral was held Tuesday forenoon. The services took place at Assumption church. A requiem mass was offered up by Father Murphy. There was a large procession of relatives, old neighbors and friends. The burial was in the family block in St. John's cemetery. The pall bearers were M. F. Kerwick, Henry Selle, W. I. Branagan, Joseph Mulroney, James Dunigan, and Thomas Kirby.

The deceased was born at Louisburg, in the county of Mayo, Ireland, June 24, 1845. Her maiden name was Katherine Joyce. She was a daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Martin Joyce, for many years residents of this city, and a sister of Patrick Joyce, who was so well known to most of our citizens. She came to the United States with her parents June 15, 1862. They lived in New York for some time and later came to eastern Iowa. June 4, 1865, she was united in marriage, at St. Gabriel's church, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, to Michael Patton. They moved to Palo Alto county in 1872 and settled on a farm in Great Oak township. In 1872 they moved to this city, subsequently making this their home. Mr. Patton died in 1901. There are four living daughters and one son living. The son, M. F. Patton, is cashier of the Mitchell National Bank of Mitchell, South Dakota. Two daughters, Mrs. W. D. Ferguson and Mrs. M. Mobray, reside in Chicago. The other two daughters, Miss Lille Patton, county superintendent, and Miss Josephine who teaches in the Emmetsburg public schools, reside in this city. One sister, Miss Lottie Joyce, lives at Waterloo.

Mrs. Patton was one of the most sincere, dutiful wives and mothers in Emmetsburg. She was keen and intelligent and she was intensely earnest in all she said and did. Few women understood better than she did the important and serious obligations resting upon the parent. The professional and social positions attained and honored by her son and daughters, who are well known to hundreds of our citizens, pay a higher tribute to her zeal and usefulness as a Christian woman than is within the power of language to express. This, after all, is the true test of maternal example and worth. Mrs. Patton was at all times devoted to the practice of her religious duties, which were dearer to her than any honor or favor the world could bestow. She was one of the most obliging of neighbors and she would make any reasonable sacrifice for the comfort, happiness, and welfare of those on whose friendship and integrity she felt that she could depend. The writer knew her intimately for about a quarter of a century and highly did we prize the friendship and the good will that she manifested towards us on all occasions. There is, after all, no friend like the old friend whose loyalty has never been known to waver. This is the second death in the Patton family since last January, when the second son, William, passed away. Such afflictions are always painful to the other loving hearts of the household, but sorrow is, of course, most intense when the mother, whose tenderness and devotion is known only to those on whom they are most lavishly bestowed, is called from the scenes that are, from innocent and confiding childhood, associated with her care, attention, and self-sacrificing efforts. The sympathy of a wide circle of friends and neighbors is extended to the surviving son and daughters in the loss of her whose confidence in providential direction and helpfulness and in the value of duty conscientiously and faithfully performed were ever to them an inspiration to loftiness of purpose and worthiness of deed.